To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps his Department has taken in response to the finding of its Workforce Issues discussion paper of 2006 on the adequacy of numbers of medical care staff with training and expertise in epilepsy. (275897)

Local national health service organisations are best placed to determine the workforce they need to deliver high quality service for patients. The Department is committed to supporting the NHS to do this by ensuring information such as supply and demand of medical practitioners with epilepsy training is well understood throughout the NHS, and that workforce planning and education and training decisions reflect this.

The NHS Next Stage Review document ‘A High Quality Workforce’ outlined improvements for the workforce planning system, including a Centre for Workforce Intelligence and Professional Advisory Boards to provide expert research, analysis and co-ordinated clinical advice to the NHS.

This will help to ensure that the NHS has the right workforce with the right skills to deliver high quality care for all patients.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what information his Department makes available for people diagnosed with epilepsy on the (a) risk factors for and (b) prevention of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy. (275898)

Detailed information on epilepsy, and the risk factors associated with sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, is made available on the NHS Choices website at:

www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Epilepsy/Pages/Complications.aspx